Branded
by 097771
Summary: Chat is hurt badly and Ladybug is scared into realizing her feelings for him.
1. Branded

Chapter 1:

A/N: I tried writing this story last year and let me just say that the last chapter was horrifically written and bloody disgraceful. I was going into the last stages of my school term and sort of rushed it. Then I had to hand my laptop into my school and I had basically no access to anything that I could write and upload on. So I had to wait for a long time to get my laptop back and now I'm here. I have changed somethings in the story as well as the title. I might do another story when I have finished butchering this one. Anyway here is the modified story. Please review if you can. It makes me a lot more confidant when writing.

HAPPY READING

* * *

 _Six Years Ago:-_

 _"_ _Hey", Adrien greeted Marinette. She stiffened and turned her back on him. Adrien looked down and walked forward putting up his umbrella. "I just wanted you to know that I was only trying to take the chewing gum off your seat, I swear. I've never been to school before, never had friends. It's all sort of new to me."_

 _Adrien turned around in the pouring Parisian rain and held out the umbrella to her. Their eyes met and Marinette's mouth hung slightly open, noticing for the first time not only how attractive he was but also how kind and caring he was. She gazed in to the emerald green depths of his eyes and made a small inaudible gasp. He handed her the umbrella. Marinette stood there stunned at how wrong she had been to judge him so quickly. The moment was cut short as the umbrella abruptly closed around her. Adrien laughed at her, but not scornfully. It was a laugh that friends share. She was quick to join in._

 _"_ _See you tomorrow" he said before walking to the waiting car already soaked to the bone._

 _"_ _Uh-huh, see you to-tomor-row"._

 _And in that moment although Marinette would have deigned it, Adrien's name was branded into a special place in her heart. A place that he would come to rule over the coming years._

* * *

Chat sat with his legs swinging over the side of the highest level on the Eiffel tower. He closed his eyes and listened to the world around him. The birds chirping far away, the tourists clicking their cameras at each other, the soft rustle of fabric behind him…. He suddenly sprang up and span pointing an accusing finger at Ladybug who had been sneaking up on him.

"You know that I'm the stealthy one in this partnership?" Chat grinned as he grabbed a startled Ladybugs hand and kissed it. He didn't tell her how she had almost caught him. "Not you!"

"You…your…. Argh. I hate you, you know that, right?" Ladybug said playfully as she flicked his nose when he kissed her hand.

Chat gasped dramatically and pretended to faint. "Your words wound me Princess. I don't think I'll ever recover…." And then he fell to the ground.

"Chat come on. Get up!" Ladybug kicked him not gently in the side. He didn't even grunt.

"I'll kick you harder" she threatened. Chats hand slowly raised up and beckoned her closer.

"What?" She asked harshly. Still the hand beckoned her. She went to a knee beside him "Yes Chat?"

"Kiss of life?" he asked hopefully.

Chats yelp of pain was heard all across Paris.

* * *

"You didn't have to kick me that fucking hard you realize?" Chat whined as he prodded his ribs. "It really hurts."

"I think I did have to kick you that _fucking_ hard, you weren't getting up anytime soon" Ladybug tried not to laugh as Chat softly massaged his side. "I would have had to do patrol alone."

"It still hurts" Chat said wincing.

"Alright, enough complaining. Let's get on with patrol." She threw out her yoyo and swung away to the start of their route around the city. Chat followed behind her barely keeping up. She ran to the top of a building and then stopped to let him catch up.

"What wrong Chat?" She asked. He normally raced her along the track but he was slow today. "Is it your ribs? Look I'm sorry but you were asking for it."

"I know, I know. It's not that." He said.

"What then?" She asked concerned.

"It's nothing, I'm just tired"

"Well maybe we should take a break before finishing" Ladybug said wanting to make sure her partner was fine.

Chat sat down and with nothing else to do watched Ladybug. She sat there like a goddess, bathed in sunlight with a slight smile on her lips as she looked over Paris. His eyes drifted down her body and back up again.

"See something you like Chat?" Ladybug questioned. Chat felt his cheeks grow warm with a blush and he realized that he had been caught staring.

"S-sorry, Princess. I didn't mean to ummm… you know." Chat stuttered.

"Its fine. It's not like I haven't checked you out when we've been on patrol."

"I still shouldn't look at you like that. It isn't right, I'm sorry." He apologized again.

"Look, lets finish patrol and you can make it up to me next time we meet, ok?"

"Ok. Sorry" Chat said still feeling embarrassed.

They jumped and swung around the city until they were finally back at the Eiffel tower. They sat down near the top of the tower and fell into a comfortable silence. Just as the sun was going down Ladybug stood and looked down at Chat.

"I should probably go now. I'll meet you tomorrow for patrol?" She asked.

"It's a date." Said Chat.

"Oh shut up you stupid cat" Sighed Ladybug taking a swipe at him. Chat danced out of her reach before she connected. "Bye Kitten." And with that she turned and swung off to her house.

* * *

Adrien stood in his room. He couldn't stop thinking about Ladybug every time he tried to distract himself she just popped back into his mind. Her intoxicating beauty had left its mark on his mind and right now the only thing he could think about was her. He decided to go out and clear his mind. It was a clear cool night. Chat ran around the city trying to decide how he could take his mind off of Ladybug. He was looking down at the Louvre when he heard screams in the distance. As quick as he could he ran over to the sounds and found people scattered over the ground covered in blood. A girl ran to him yelling in a language he didn't understand. There was confusion everywhere. He didn't see the Akuma but he knew that this was one's work.

"Chat Noir! Chat Noir! Please help me!" All of the people were crying, screaming for his help but he couldn't. He had to go after the Akuma and hope that Ladybug showed up to help him. He heard more screams and followed on the roof tops. The Akuma stood in what seemed to be golden armor. It had a shield about as large as Chat and a viciously barbed spear for a weapon. It was going after more civilians so Chat distracted it. He jumped down behind it intending to daze it with a blow to the head. The Akuma turned lightning quick and slammed its shield into Chat slamming him into a building. He fell to the ground as the Akuma spoke in a deep gravelly voice.

"Ahhhh, Chat Noir. I am Gladiator. Have you come to surrender you miraculous?" The Akuma walked slowly to Chat.

Chat stood unsteadily on his feet and looked at the Akuma who was easily twice his height.

"I think you know that I didn't come here to surrender. I came to kick your gold plated ass!" Chat thought desperately, trying to think of a way to disable the Akuma. He sprang away as Gladiator stabbed where he had been just a moment before. This was going to be a tough fight.

* * *

Marinette heard screams and then saw Chat fly past her window with a massive Akuma following him closely. She quickly transformed and followed them. Chat was being tossed around like a toy by the Akuma. Chat jumped away only to be grabbed by the ankle and then slammed into the ground and flung into a building. She ran to him to help him up and then they rushed to meet the Akuma.

Gladiator was having a harder time fighting both of the superheroes but he was still putting up a better fight than most Akumas. The duo simultaneously attacked the Akuma Ladybug going for his upper body while Chat went low. Ladybug leaped toward the monster but was slammed aside by his shield. Chat blinded by worry failed to see the spear coming towards him with frightening speed. With Ladybug dazed Chat was at his mercy. Gladiator stabbed Chat through his back and then drove the spear down so hard that the point punched through into the ground. Ladybug heard a long drawn out scream of pain but didn't believe it was Chats. As Gladiator struggled to pull the spear from the ground and back through Chat, he summoned his Cataclysm and destroyed the spear. A dark purple butterfly flew out of the destroyed weapon. Ladybug quickly cleansed the Akuma and then ran to her partner. She repaired all of the damage that the Akuma had done with the lucky charm that she had summoned, a fire extinguisher, which had appeared to be completely useless. Chat lay on the ground gasping for breath. The Akuma victim was kneeling on the ground nearby.

"Get away from him, you monster!", She sobbed knowing that she was being unfair to the man. She took Chats head into her lap and then carefully lifted him up and took him to a nearby roof top. She lay him down and quickly checked him over. There didn't seem to be any damage that she could see.

"I'm fine Bugaboo, really. Don't be afraid." He smiled weakly at her. A hand reached up and caressed her cheek. She hugged him tightly and cried into his chest. He hugged her back from his horizontal position.

"I thought you had died. You know you don't come back if that happens. I can't heal death-" She broke off, the thought to horrible to voice. "You remember what happened to that man who got killed by an Akuma."

Chat did. The man's body, which had been shredded apart, had been pulled back together and he had looked normal. There hadn't even been a scratch on him. But the charm had only healed what was physical. The man had still been dead. "I'm not dead and the charm heals everything else so I should be fine."

"Well do you feel anything weird? Is there anything that might help you?" Ladybug was still worried.

Chat decided to put her mind at ease. "Well there is one thing that might help…"

"Yes, anything Chat."

He pulled her down so he could whisper into her ear. "Kiss of life." He asked hopefully for the second time that day.

His surprised squawk was heard all across Paris as she responded with a fervor that he least of all had expected.


	2. Hurt

Chapter 2:

A/N: The first chapter turned out a lot better than what I thought it would. I just have to take time to write these so that they don't turn into a badly written shit-storm.

PLEASE REVIEW!

To say that Chat was surprised would be a gross understatement. Firstly, he had only been trying to cheer Ladybug up after his near death experience. And secondly, LADYBUG HAD JUST FUCKING KISSED HIM. His mind was in overload and he had no choice but to watch as his body blindly followed Ladybug's lead.

Ladybug was overcome by the desire to show him how much she cared about him. Seeing him lying on the ground dying from the spear through his back had made something snap inside of her. She broke the kiss for a breath of air before she took advantage of his position and straddled him. Then she leant down and captured his lips again. She tugged on his bottom lip with her teeth until he opened his mouth for her tongue to slip inside. And then suddenly it was her on the ground with him on top. He kissed her fiercely and then pulled away.

"Did you want to- uh, you know… Go somewhere else?", he gestured down to the crowd of reporters, one of which was Alya, that had gathered. Her phone flashed before she slowly lowered it.

"Yeah, guess that's on the Ladyblog", Ladybug sighed. "and yes let's go."

Someone (probably Alya) yelled from below, "Keep going! Don't let us bother you!"

Ladybug sighed.

"We have to go now. Quickly. We can talk about this later." She gestured to her earrings and his ring. "Meet me at the Notre Dame when your kwami is charged."

"I'll be there Milady", Chat had barely finished saying this before she was up and away.

* * *

Ladybug raced home scared that she might detransfrom mid jump. She just got through her window when she changed back to Marinette and landed in a heap on the floor.

Tikki shot out of her earring and flew to the secret stash of cookies Marinette thought she didn't know about. She then dove in and started stuffing her face.

"Tikki!" She whisper-shouted, "I kissed him! I kissed Chat! Tikki he nearly died!"

Tikki replied while stuffing cookies into her mouth, "He will be fine Marinette, it isn't like it's the first injury either of you have had."

"Yes but it's definitely the worst. He got ran through by a spear. You weren't there Tikki, you didn't hear him scream. You didn't see his eyes when he was sure he would die." Marinette couldn't stop herself from replaying the scene over and over in her head.

"He is fine Marinette. It's his job to take hits for you and you need to accept that. That's the way it has always been." Tikki finished her last cookie. "Thanks for the cookies by the way. You need to hide them better."

"Let's go Tikki, we've got some talking to do with Chat", Marinette turned to her window, "Tikki spots on!"

* * *

Ladybug was waiting for Chat when he arrived. He landed and awkwardly stood on the roof with her, unsure of what to do or say. He felt that something was off.

"Chat….", Ladybug said, "Chat! Hey! Hello? Its fucking cold. Are we going to go inside or not?"

"Uhhh.. yeah, cold. We should go inside." She was right, it was fucking cold.

"Very wise of you Chat." Ladybug said sarcastically. She opened a stained glass window and they stepped inside of the giant church.

In the cathedral it was a lot warmer. They stood on the walkway that looked down on the inside of the church.

Ladybug looked at Chat, "Are you sure that you are ok?"

Chat sighed, "Yeah, I'm fine. So… are we going to… um you know... kiss?" He smiled at her hopefully.

Ladybug looked away. She was at war with herself in her mind. She didn't love Chat. She couldn't. Right? She loved Adrien, she always had. She couldn't love two people at the same time, could she? No that would be wrong. Ladybug sat for a while thinking.

"I… like you Chat." She said gently.

"I love you to Milady."

"No Chat. I don't love you" Ladybug sighed, "I can't."

"Why,", Chat's smile disappeared, "Why can't you love me?"

"I love someone else. I like you Chat. I just can't drop my feelings for this other person-", Ladybug wrung her hands behind her back, "I've loved him for so long."

Chat stiffened. He hated that Ladybug had loved someone who wasn't him. "Does he return those feelings?"

"It doesn't matter if he does or doesn't. I still love him. Chat…" Ladybug grabbed his chin softly and turned his head to look at her. She could see the tears in his eyes, something that she had never seen before, "Chat, you will always be special to me."

"Nothing I can do would change the way you feel. I've never been good enough for anyone. I can never be perfect. Well I hope you are happy with this guy,", He spat the last word, "Goodbye."

Then he was gone.

* * *

Adrien stood in his bathroom. He looked around at the pristine white room then turned the shower on and stepped in. He had a knife that he had taken from the kitchen when no one else had been around. It hovered shakily in his hand as he raised it to his wrist. He had nothing to live for. Nothing. He was nothing. He was sick of not being good enough. He was sick of not being able to do what he wanted to do. And he was ready to end it all.

"Don't do it kid." Said a voice from over his shoulder. "I won't let you."

"You can't stop me Plagg." Adrien moved the knife closer.

"I SAID DON'T DO IT," Adrien's hand stopped, "You have no idea how many Chat Noirs have committed suicide." The knife rusted away in Adrien's hand, "How many times I have watched them die at their own hands. I won't have it again." Plagg's voice had taken on a thunderous tone, it was deep and heavy. "You have people who love you. If you would just open your eyes and see. You have friends who would give everything for you. You have many more friends than some people. You need to get over Ladybug."

Adrien collapsed in the shower and sobbed. He cried and cried. He had no idea how long he had been there when he finally summoned the courage to get back up. He was exhausted and when his head hit his pillow that night, he fell instantly asleep.


	3. AN

A/N: Alright, So I read a review that made heaps of sense to me and gave me some ideas that I could use to re-write the last Chapter and change the story line a bit. I think it was a bit to early to bring the two of them together and I need to built up more tension before doing so. I'll upload a different chapter tonight and hopefully it will be a lot better.


	4. Goodbye

Chapter 3:

A/N: So dark or what? I want to thank every one who reviewed my story, it was really helpful.

PLEASE REVIEW!

* * *

 _"Goodbye."_

Ladybug didn't like the sound of goodbye. It was too final, too complete. Like Chat was going away forever. He never said goodbye. Never. It was always, "See ya", or, "Bye Bugaboo", but never "Goodbye". It was this that made her go to Master Fu. She was worried about Chat.

Marinette stepped into Master Fu's shop and walked into the back.

"Ah Ladybug. Nice of you to visit an old man. What brings me the pleasure of your company?"

Marinette told him everything that had happened yesterday. "And then he just left."

"You were right to be concerned Ladybug. He must be feeling very negative at the moment. Hawkmoth may try to use Chat Noir and if he does then you would be hard pressed to defeat him." He looked at her seriously, "Chat Noir is almost always a troubled person. He walks on the blade of a knife, balancing always. If he falls from the knife and into Hawkmoths clutches, we will be powerless to stop him. He would be to powerful even for Hawkmoth to control."

"What can I do to stop that from happening?" Marinette asked.

Master Fu looked at her gravely, "Anything you can Ladybug. Anything."

Thunder crashed outside and rain began pouring down.

* * *

Adrien stepped out of his car and walked up to the house he had parked outside of. He looked down the street and then knocked on the door. Nino answered, looked at him and then dragged him inside without saying anything.

"Well I never thought I'd say this man, but you look like shit." Nino looked worriedly at his friend. He was usually happy.

Adrien sighed, "Yeah I just had a bit of a rough night."

"Rough night my ass! Tell me what's wrong. I've never seen you like this." Nino gestured at Adrien's face. His eyes were empty and he had faint tear streaks coming down from his eyes. "Sit down and I'll get you something to drink."

Adrien sat down in the lounge. The room had a warm glow from the shuttered windows, the light from outside just peaking in though the curtains. Nino returned from the kitchen with glass of cold water. Working as a full time DJ seemed to have its perks.

"Just start from the beginning and go from there."

Adrien told Nino a highly altered version of last night's events, leaving out only the fact that he was Chat Noir and the attempted suicide. Nino didn't need to know about that and Adrien wasn't ready to tell anyone yet.

"Well….," Nino said unhelpfully after Adrien was finished, "That fucking sucks."

"Yeah, I know." Adrien said annoyed.

"Well if you ever need anything just ask. I'm here for you man." Nino said awkwardly.

* * *

Marinette was late for her uni class as usual. She quickly dressed in a loose pink top and a pair of tight denim shorts before sprinting down from her room running outside and jumping into her car. The little hatch back engine whined to life and soon she was speeding down the road. She didn't even see the red light or the shock of blonde hair before she heard the thump of her hitting something.

She jumped out of her car and ran to the person's side apologizing over and over. She rolled the person over and was shocked to find Adrien looking back at her.

"Oh fucking God," she moaned looking at the sky, "Please don't be dead."

She heard a muffled groan. "What was that?"

"Uhhgg argh." She pulled Adrien closer. "I might die if you squeeze me any tighter." He whispered.

"Oh y-yeah sorry." She released him still remembering the feel of him in her arms. She wished the circumstances had been different. "C-can you get up? Does anything f-feel broken?"

"Apart from my ribs I'm fine. Thanks." He smiled at her.

"Y-your arm. Its bleeding." She pointed at the offending limb. It must have been grazed across the bitumen when she hit him.

"I hadn't noticed," When had Marinette become so pretty? "I'm probably just a bit dazed."

"Well come back to my house and I'll fix you up." She finally managed a full sentence without stuttering. Stepping back, she grabbed his uninjured arm and helped him to her car.

"Thanks Marinette, but you don't have to-"

"No no. I hit you with my car and I should at least help you stop bleeding everywhere." She sat him down in her car and looked around for something to stop him dripping everywhere.

"I'll just wrap it in my shirt." He said helpfully before pulling his shirt up a little and wrapping it around his arm. In doing so he exposed a small portion of his abbs. Marinette gave a small squeak at the sight and then stiffly walked around the other side of the car.

She drove them without hitting anyone else thankfully. She pulled up outside her house and they walked into a comfortable room with two couches and a largish TV. There was a Persian rug on the floor but other than that it was wood. Adrien sat down on her couch while she went to find her first aid kit. The graze had leaked blood through his shirt and it was now sticky with blood. Marinette looked at him apologetically. "Sorry about your shirt."

"Its fine, it's only a shirt." He smiled at her again. "You really don't have to do this for me."

"N-no, I do. I really am sorry." She moved to start wrapping up the when she saw something on his wrist. It looked like a deep scratch, not deep enough to be a cut but pretty close. She waited until she had finished before raising the subject. "Adrien, what's that on your wrist?"

Adrien looked at his wrist before replying, "Its nothing. I just cut it accidentally."

Marinette could tell that he was lying. She could see it in his sad emerald eyes, the way they shifted away from hers when she looked directly at him.

"Ok but if you ever need anything just ask." Marinette stared at her feet, "You've still got friends Adrien."

When she saw his eyes again there were tears in them.

"I've got to go," he said while trying to hide his shame, "Thanks Mari."

 _"_ _Goodbye."_

A/N: So I guess this is a thing going around right now where you write the song you were listening to when you wrote your story so:

Songs I wrote to:

\- Fell on Black Days (Soundgarden)

\- (Baby I've got you) On My Mind (Powderfinger)

\- DARE (Gorillaz)

\- Gold on the Ceiling (The Black Keys)

and some others.

PLEASE REVIEW!


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